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seedling on a staulk

My seedling Northern Purple has a little staulk above the soil line which is grows it's traps from. According to what I have read, this is not uncommon, especially in the northern virieties and it's a way of keeping the pitchure off the ground in wetter conditions. This is all well and good, except my conditions haven't been that wet since it was a baby and now I'm going to transplant it to a grown up pot. My question is, should I remove the whole rhysome from the peat pellot it is in and then replant so that the staulk is underground again, or should I just plant the whole or part of the pellot with the plant, and if I do that, should I try to cover the saulk with soil or just let it live on a little cord? It really creaps me out that it just has this little wimpy staulk between the top and bottom of the plant. I'm always affraid it will snap or something. (My seedling has about 20 juv. traps and will be a year old come Easter. Currently it is asleep on my windowcill in a peat pellot)
 
I would move it to sphagnum moss and plant in deeper.  I know many people with far more experience than me have lots of sucess growing Sarrs in all kinds of gooey stuff, like peat, but I think purps are far happier in an airier kind of material, like LFS.

I used to see lots of purps when I lived in Maine and never, ever saw one growing in muck.  They grew in sphagnum.  It buffers water levels and allows plenty of air flow when not flooded.  I've seen photos of wild purps growing in peat and other non-sphagnum substrates, but they've never seemed very happy.
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (herenorthere @ Feb. 12 2004,10:28)]I would move it to sphagnum moss and plant in deeper.  I know many people with far more experience than me have lots of sucess growing Sarrs in all kinds of gooey stuff, like peat, but I think purps are far happier in an airier kind of material, like LFS.

I used to see lots of purps when I lived in Maine and never, ever saw one growing in muck.  They grew in sphagnum.  It buffers water levels and allows plenty of air flow when not flooded.  I've seen photos of wild purps growing in peat and other non-sphagnum substrates, but they've never seemed very happy.
Uh, icky, no I don't grow in pure peat. I just start seedlings their. And I hate LFS because it is usually just as water logged and pure peat. With Sarrs in my area you got to go with Peat/Perlight, at least that is what my experiment last year conclueded... anyone with more experience like to give me some imput? I want to know if anyone has delt with this before I go and risk my only plant.
 
Hi Darcie,

My seedlings grew a root from the seed that would sometimes travel along the soil before it plunged down in. Then the plantlet would grow off of this long root. I transplanted all of my seedlings out of the peat used for starting the seeds and planted them in 50:50 sand/peat. When I did this I buried the root. They are much happier after being transplanted. Roots belong in the soil, it will not hurt to put some soil around the stem. It will probably grow fine as it is as well.

S. purpurea spp. purpurea grows in sandy marl flats here in Michigan as well as on sphagnum hammucks. Check out the photos on my site. These are growing in marl, no sphagnum at all.

Glenn
 
You forget
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they also grow in lakes on logs and floating debree, no sphagnum required.  I'll go look at those pictures.  
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really, I'd like to make a live sphagnum minni bog for them some time, but I can't right now and LFS in a pot did not work well at all for my experimental plants last fall.  I will be useing a peat sand mix for the seedling I think
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 Thanks for the info.

Edit: Oh wow, that is some nice Fen footage.
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Hmmm, interesting how light the flower is and green the traps... looks like only one have heavy red veining. I guess it is true about the color only showing up in high acid conditions like those grown in sphagnum and peat. Nifty. I've heard so many different descriptions of purple in this state from people who have been to different locations, it's incredable how much they vary hear. Everything from yellow flowers with almost black leaves to bright red all over to totally green to the color drained brittle fen plants, to the classic purple with a red flower. I love these plants
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...How big are those D. rotundifolia? The ones I found last summer were a wopping 5+ inches accross and I've been wondering if that is the norm up here or not.
 
Darcie, the only case in which I have seen an S. purpurea subsp. purpurea growing in/on something other than sphagnum was at a small pond on the edge of it in some grasses and peaty areas. I doubt they would grow on logs unless the logs were covered in sphagnum. The only CP I've seen on logs are Drosera which can take root in almost anything.
 
When filling a pot with LFS, be careful to not pack it too tightly.  Air should be able to move through it freely.  I soak the dry moss and squeeze the water out, a handful at a time.  Let it fluff up and set it in the pot rather than pack it in.  I used to add some coir, to make it peatier, but I stopped.  Now, if I add anything, it's lava rock; a very coarse perlite.  It helps bulk it up, without weighing it down.
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (nepenthes gracilis @ Feb. 15 2004,16:20)]Darcie, the only case in which I have seen an S. purpurea subsp. purpurea growing in/on something other than sphagnum was at a small pond on the edge of it in some grasses and peaty areas. I doubt they would grow on logs unless the logs were covered in sphagnum. The only CP I've seen on logs are Drosera which can take root in almost anything.
yah, well, I have a Prof who knows of a pond with a fallen tree in it. The log is hollow and broken on top, but suspended accross the depths of the pond. The Purples grow along the upper edges of the log into the broken submerged areas. Schnell's book also mentions them growing in highly aquatic enviornments.
 
Well yes I have seen that, but you made it sound like they were growing on fallen logs in a bog. Which is just silly.
 
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Oh, lol. Sorry, my bad. It does sort of sound like that now that I reread that post. ;)
 
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